Rating and value of paintings by Lady Elizabeth Thompson

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Rating and value of the artist Elizabeth Thompson   

Elizabeth Thompson is an artist known to portrait lovers. Her visibility on the art market continues to grow, her stock is exploding and she is increasingly in demand : it is speculated that her works could reach unprecedented amounts at auction.

Women artists of the 19th century, pupils in the studios of undisputed grand masters, produced works that are extremely sought-after today.

In 2021, her painting Dawn of Waterloo, The 'Reveille' in the bivouac of the Scots Greys on the morning of the battle, dating from 1895, sold for €308,000, while it was estimated at between €94,800 and €142,150.

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious

Style and technique of a history painter

Lady Butler Elizabeth Thompson is a British painter of military scenes. She specializes in military history painting, in particular the battles of the 19th-century British army.

She introduces a narrative and human reading of the battlefield, often going against the grain of the spectacular or traditional heroism. She distinguishes herself in a genre reserved for men, renewing the treatment of war through a realistic, empathetic and rigorous approach.

The majority of her works are produced in oil on canvas, often on large format. The drawing is precise and structured, heir to academic training (notably at the Female School of Art in London and Florence).

She uses a relatively muted palette, dominated by browns, grays and blues, in keeping with the earthy tones of military campaigns. Her work is focused on overall composition, with rigorous management of depth, successive planes and lines of force.

She places great importance on the accuracy of uniforms, postures and attitudes, which are the result of constant documentiare research. The artist often focuses on ordinary soldiers, wounded or survivors, figures of expectation, weariness or sacrifice.

Faces are rarely idealized, features are marked, inner expressions are expressed and glances are absent or lost. She introduces a form of controlled pathos, without dramatic overacting, which reinforces the emotional impact of the scenes.

She strives for emotional veracity since the scene is not aimed at the spectator but at the rendering of a suspended moment, often posterior or anterior to the action (withdrawal, return, expectation, injury).

The skies, mists and dust are carefully rendered to create an atmospheric reading of the war. The framing, sometimes tight or panoramic, establishes a cinematic rhythm before its time, playing on the immersion effect.

It is both inspired by classical history painting (Géricault, Gros, Meissonnier) and by a documentary and humanistic drive close to social realism. She is also influenced by contemporary war narratives, military diaries and direct testimonies from soldiers.

In places, her approach prefigures 20th-century war painting, notably in its disillusioned or compassionate tone.

The life of Lady Elizabeth Thompson

Lady Elizabeth Thompson (1846 - 1933), also known as Lady Butler, was a major figure in 19th-century British military painting. Born in Switzerland into a cultivated and cosmopolitan British family, she received a careful artistic education in London, then followed a thorough training at the Female School of Art in South Kensington.

She completed her studies in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti, where she trained in history painting and academic techniques. She traveled extensively in Europe, particularly in Italy, nurturing her eye and visual culture.

Lady Elizabeth Thompson made a name for herself in 1874 with The Roll Call, a large-scale tableu depicting a line of exhausted soldiers returning from the Crimean front. The work was an immediate success at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which drew large crowds and was purchased by Queen Victoria.

She was one of the few women to make a place for herself in the then strictly male field of military history painting. In 1877, she married Sir William Butler, an officer in the British army, giving her the title of Lady Butler.

She followed her husband to various foreign postings (Ireland, South Africa, Canada), which influenced her subjects and partially distanced her from the London art scene. Mother of six children, she nevertheless managed to maintain a steady artistic activity.

She exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and other prestigious salons, but was refused entry to the Royal Academy despite several attempts, on account of her genre more than her merit.

The artist continued to produce major works until the end of the century, with themes ranging from the Napoleonic War to the Egyptian campaign, the Crimean War and colonial expeditions. She wrote her autobiography, From Sketch-Book and Diary (1909), which recounts her work and travel memories.

She died in 1933 in Gormanston Castle, Ireland, aged 86. Largely forgotten for part of the 20th century, she has enjoyed a resurgence of interest since the 1980s with studies on women artists and the critical representation of war.

Now considered a pioneering figure, at the crossroads of military realism and narrative sensibility, she influenced the perception of war in Victorian art.

Focus on The Roll Call, Lady Thompson, 1874

The Roll Call is an oil-on-canvas painting measuring 93 x 183 cm, depicting a tired group of British soldiers standing in formation for roll call after a battle in the Crimean War.

It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874, and the painting was immediately purchased by Queen Victoria, now in the Royal Collection, Windsor.

The soldiers are supported by a comrade, while the officer reads out the names : the human and collective dimension of the trauma is central. The palette is dominated by earthy, muddy, cold tones, reinforcing the gray, overwhelmed atmosphere of the moment.

The light, zenithal and cold, partly illuminates the faces and sodden uniforms, reinforcing the effect of realism. Details of uniforms, weapons and tired faces are meticulous. Every element contributes to an impression of truth.

Any dramatic action is absent, since the tension is born of immobility, restraint and pictorial silence. Here, war is materialized through fatigue, destitution and anonymity.

The painting introduces a humanistic and empathetic reading of military events, through the eyes of a woman artist, which was exceptional for the time. It was one of the first British examples of war realism, even before the great campaigns of the First World War.

It was an immediate success, with both the press and the public praising the scene's restrained emotion. The work caused a sensation because of its author, a woman dealing authoritatively with a virile, historical subject.

The Roll Call consequently founded Lady Butler's reputation and opened a breach in the hitherto structurally masculine field of military painting.

Recognizing the signature of Lady Elizabeth Thompson  

Artists do not necessarily sign their works, which is why expertise remains necessary to ensure the authenticity of your property.

How to find out the value of a work

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